I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to glare reducing devices and, in particular, the present invention relates to a hood adapted to be attached to a video terminal to substantially reduce the glare associated with a CRT screen.
II. Description of the Prior Art
The use of video terminals in the office environment in recent years has been substantially increased to the extent that it is a common occurrence for secretaries, data processor users and engineering designers to be working in front of a CRT screen of a video terminal. It is also a common occurrence that such video terminals are used in conventional offices that are not provided with any type of reduced lighting, as the other activities of the office must continue and normally require a substantial amount of light. This results in a considerable amount of CRT-reflective light, especially in the office environment where high intensity light is provided to ensure good viewing. This glare can cause eye tension and headaches leading to stress which can be a subtle but powerful factor in decreased productivity and job dissatisfaction. It is known to the Inventor that others have employed glare screens completely overlying and covering the CRT screen so as to reduce CRT reflected light and the bad effects associated therewith. Such screens generally must be attached to the CRT screens by an adhesive and require a coating of some type of filtering material, such as an anti-reflection permanent coating that tends to eliminate much of the incoming light before it can be reflected back to the user. The difficulty with such filters is that they also have a tendency to filter out the material appearing on the CRT screen, making it more difficult for the user to view the screen.
Because of the filtering medium that is inserted on the CRT screen between the viewer and the image, it is necessary that such CRT screens be turned on brighter so that the image may be easily viewed, which has a tendency to decrease the life of the CRT screen. It has also been noted by the Inventor that such filter screens are expensive and generally require special installation features, such as an adhesive or tape, and may have to be recoated from time to time with some type of anti-reflection material.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a simple means for improving the contrast and sharpness of the CRT screen image by the elimination of glare.